Raven’s Pass to stay the distance in Cup Classic

John Gosden’s Breeders Cup Classic entry, Raven’s Pass, will be heading into the unknown when he participates in the Breeders Cup feature race next Saturday.

While the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner has never raced over a distance of greater than a mile, Gosden believes that his runner has the staying power to handle the extra ¼ mile in the Breeders Cup Classic.

“This horse sees out the mile well here and his pedigree clearly says a mile and one furlong or a mile and one eighth. From that point of view we are confident he will get the mile and eighth,” Gosden told reporters.

“Anyone who wins over the old, stiff mile at Ascot is going to stay beyond that mile, but whether he stays that extra one eighth of a mile there is only one way to find out - and that is to run. You can’t rehearse that kind of thing in a morning.”

With Raven’s Pass’s regular rider Jimmy Fortune currently suspended from racing until the day of the Breeders Cup Classic, Frankie Dettori has been called in to take over riding duties as Gosden looks to become the first non-American trainer to win a Classic title since 1993.